Proclaim liberty throughout all the land.

As the old saying goes, there are two kinds of people: Those who divide people into two kinds of people, and those who do not. Well, I'm usually of the latter, but today I'm the former, I guess. 

Here we go: 

There are two kinds of Americans: Those who believe that human rights are God-given, and those who do not. This distinction is at the heart of all our political problems. The old counterargument, that rights are granted by government alone, had been the cry of tyrants, and was renewed by the new tyranny of Communism in the twentieth century. It exploded in our national consciousness right about the time we were able to recognize that the government's duty was to protect these God-given rights for all citizens. 

Until very recently, most Americans would have agreed wholeheartedly with this famous passage from the Declaration of Independence: 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed

I suppose there is no more crucial passage in our nation's founding than that. Some modern students think Olde Tyme people were longwinded, but look at these exceptionally important and in fact revolutionary ideas summed up in 54 words:

1) These truths are self-evident: they are postulates in no need of proof;

2) That God has endowed us with rights that are above and beyond politics;

3) That they are just three: we have a right to be alive; we have a right to be free from oppression; we have a right to seek happiness as free men;

4) That the only point of government is to secure (NOT PROVIDE) these God-given rights;

5) And that governments are formed by human beings and exist by the consent of those human beings who are under its jurisdiction. 

We've heard it all a million times, but how many of us realize how important it is? What a shocking statement it makes? The people on top through history had always acted as if the whole point of government was to protect the clan, whether the clan be a tiny tribe or Rome or France, and everyone's main job was to protect the brains of the outfit -- the ruler. The Declaration turned it all on its head. If the king infringes on the rights given to us by God, king had better watch his back. He has lost his legitimacy.

But if we don't believe in God, or don't believe that these simple rights are from the God that created us, what then? "Human rights" are disposable, mere lip service to keep the plebes in line, but there's no reason they cannot be infringed upon as much as desirable. It seems crazy that anyone would willfully dispense with the idea that his own rights come from a power higher than government. But in their effort to dethrone God, the Communists were perfectly happy to give the dispensing of rights back to government -- as long as they had their hands on the whip. 

And this is where we are now. 

We may be near or maybe even just past the tipping point, where fewer than half the people in the United States believe in that statement in the Declaration. Certainly there are those who scoff, saying the so-called "negative" rights are worthless, just the right to starve in the street; we need positive rights, the right to food, clothing, free education, housing, healthcare, and whatever else comes along. 

But those are not the rights we were founded on, because the Founders knew any real right was based in the right to freedom. They would have found it preposterous to go looking for a government-enforced right to someone else's labor. Which is what free food and free medicine and all the rest are. 

The heart of the matter is this: If Americans no longer believe that God (or nature or just human dignity, if you must) has given us the rights mentioned in the Declaration, rights that are few in number but rock-solid inviolable, then we're truly sunk. Those who control us will deny those rights; those who are controlled won't believe they are worth fighting for. 

The ironic thing is that those of us who believe that those rights are from God believe it is true whether we accept it or not, but will be forced to watch our government violate these rights as much as it desires. 

But those petty kings had better beware -- not from the peasants as much as their Creator. They were given a wonderful nation, and they'd better take care of it, or they will have to answer someday to Him. If human rights come from God, God is not going to be pleased with those who destroy these rights among others in their care -- especially in the United States of America, where we have known these things for 247 years.